Tuesday, 31 Jul 2007

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has been trailing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in national polls, but he's been out in front of the frontrunners on green issues. "I am proud that I was the first presidential candidate to call for an 80 percent reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050," Edwards told Grist and Outside in an interview on energy and the environment. "And I'm glad that other candidates have followed me in adopting this call for change." In the second in a series of interviews with presidential contenders, Edwards talks about developing his comprehensive climate and energy plan, being first to make his campaign carbon-neutral, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, and more. Tune in tomorrow for an interview with Dennis Kucinich, and stay tuned in following days for still more conversations with other presidential hopefuls.

Give a Hoot, Don't Dilute

House leadership dilutes energy bill for easier passage

As the U.S. House of Representatives edges ever closer to approving an energy bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been orchestrating compromises to make it more palatable to the so-called "hydrocarbon Democrats." Language that would have raised vehicle fuel-economy standards has been dropped. Dems are backing off from a provision that would give regulators more time to evaluate drilling permits on federal lands. Pelosi is doing away with a requirement that oil and gas companies pay royalties in cash instead of in product. Pelosi has also removed the renewable electricity standard that would have required utilities to get a greater percentage of their power from renewable sources, though lawmakers will be allowed to try to get it passed as an amendment when the bill reaches the floor. Meanwhile, experts say that a provision slipped into the Senate-passed version of the energy bill could make the nuclear-power industry eligible for an unlimited number of loan guarantees costing billions of dollars apiece. What, you thought the Democrats would be different?

Organo Failure

California study suggests link between autism and pesticide exposure

A "very preliminary" study from the California Department of Public Health suggests that higher rates of autism can be seen in children whose mothers were exposed to two organochlorine pesticides still in use in the United States, endosulfan and dicofol. Organochlorine pesticides, which take a long time to break down in the environment, affect the human nervous system; dicofol is a possible human carcinogen. Researchers examined the records of about 270,000 kids born to women living in agricultural regions of California between 1996 and 1998. Of those, 465 kids developed autism, and the mothers who lived in close proximity to fields that used the two pesticides were found to be some six times more likely than those who did not to give birth to children who developed autism. The study authors stress that the study wasn't large enough to warrant cause-and-effect-type pronouncements. They concluded that "the possibility of a connection between gestational exposure to organochlorine pesticides and autism spectrum disorders requires further study."

Any Report on a Storm

New study ties hurricane increase in Atlantic to climate change

A new study has linked rising hurricane and tropical storm activity in the Atlantic Ocean to climate change. Noting that the average number of hurricanes and tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean has more than doubled in the last century from an average of six a year between 1905 and 1930 to an average of 15 between 1995 and 2005, the study ties the increase to warming sea surface temperatures since the early 20th century. Critics of the new study, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, say natural variability in storm frequency as well as much more sophisticated technology to detect storms can account for the observed increase, but the study authors disagree. They say natural variability has contributed less than 50 percent of the actual increase in storm frequency. "Approximately 60 percent, and possibly even 70 percent of what we are seeing in the last decade can be attributed directly to greenhouse warming," said study coauthor Greg Holland from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.


Green concerns are getting mucho attention of late -- and macho attention. Is the growing emphasis on cleaner technology, "energy independence," and green patriotism just a new form of the militaristic and patriarchal thinking that got us into this eco-mess in the first place? Kira Gould and Lance Hosey, authors of a new book on women in sustainable design, examine male and female perspectives on a shifting environmental movement.